Christmas Update

This week we received I-800 approval and therefore we able to submit the DS-260 (Kira’s visa)! That’s two more boxes checked and two steps closer to home for Kira. We have two more steps before our case gets filed in court in India. Our latest timeline suggests that we can anticipate bringing Kira home in 5-11 months.

We are using this time to prepare our home and prepare our parenting skills for the unique needs of adoption parenting. One strategy for promoting bonding with our child that we have learned about is “matching” our child, and it sounds a lot like Jesus.

“Matching is the mirroring and physical mimicking that occurs instinctively between two closely connected individuals...by kneeling down to a child’s level when you look her in the eye, or by sitting on the floor in the same position she has chosen to play a game, you send the important, unspoken message that you’re responsive to her, that you ‘see’ and value your child.”*

Adults are so different from children. I always think about this when I’m teaching dance. Imagine if I had to say the same thing to adults as I say to 4-year-olds—”Please keep your head off the floor right now;” “Stop sucking on your arm and put your hands on your hips.” I speak to children in a unique way. There is a big gap to bridge in speaking to children and it shows how much we value them when we come to their level to interact.

We celebrate at Christmas that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:14) Jesus knelt down to our level to look us in the eyes, to sit like us, to walk like us, to live like us, and in doing so sent the important message that he sees us and that we are valuable to him.  

We are thinking about this this Christmas and thanking God for coming in human form to be Immanuel, God with us. Merry Christmas.

*We learned about matching through the work of Dr. Karyn Purvis and Dr. David Cross in The Connected Child, as well as and their video-based training.